Improvement in gas-meter registers



W. MCDONALD- Gas Meter Register.

No. 58,731. Patented Oct. 9, 1866.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MCDONALD, OF ALBANY, NENV YORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, DONALD MCDONALD, AND NOEL E. SISSON, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAS-METER REGISTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 58,? 3 1, dated October 9, 1866.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WlLLIAM McDoNALD, of the city and county of Albany, in the State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Gas-Meter Registers and I do hereby declare the following to be a correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure l is the register complete. Fig. 2 is a plan of the same with dial-plate and cap removed. Fig. 3 is a side view, showing the position of the spur-wheels and pinions, and Fig. A the under side of wheel G and upper side of wheel A. Fig. 5 is a side view, showing the side opposite that shown in Fig. 3, be-

:ing the upper side of the register.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The nature and. object of my invention are to so construct and arrange the apparatus attached to gas-meters, which register the amount of gas used, as to prevent fraud upon gas-companies by dishonest gas-consumers.

The wheels A, B, O, D, and E are arranged in the usual way. The pressure of gas operating upon the main pinion K, motion is commnnicated to the spur-wheel A, which, being geared to the wheel B by means of the pinion (6, turns that wheel, which again gears into the pinion c and turns the wheel 0, and in this manner motion is given to the wheels D and E.

The wheels O, D, and E, being provided with the indexes n, 0, and to, mark the one thousand, ten thousand, and one hundred thousand feet of gas consumed.

By turning the main pinion K backward or forward the wheels 0, D, and E are also turned backward or forward, so that unless some check is provided the amount of gas consumed may be apparentlyincreased or diminished by turning the qpinion K backward and forward, and by this means frauds may be committed upon the gas-companies. To obviate this I provide the additional spur-wheels F and G, so arranged as to gear into each other, and also to connect with the other parts, the pinion f working in the wheel B, and the wheel F working in the pinion K.

The pinions a and 9 move around the axles of the wheels A and G, and are made to revolve with them or in the opposite direction by means of the ratchet-wheelsR B and pawls p p, the ratchet-wheels being rigidly attached to the pinions a and g.

In Fig. A the arrangement of the ratchetwhcel B, pawl 12, and spring .9, which holds down the pawl 19, are more clearly shown.

If the pinion K, which carries the index m, is turned from right to left, or in the usual direction, the wheels A, B, O, D, and E turn in the usual direction, and the hands or indexes a, 0, and to register properly the amount of gas consumed.

Now, if by any means the pinion Kbe turned in the wrong direction, the hands a, 0, and it will still move forward and register correctly the amount of gas consumed, for the pawland-ratehet wheel on the spur-wheel A prevents the ,pinion a from turning in the same direction with that wheel, while the same arrangement on the wheel G causes the wheel and pinion to move in the same direction, and the wheel B, which gears into the pinion g, is carried forward the same as if the pinion K were turned in the opposite direction. this arrangement the hands on the dial-plate n 0 10 will move forward in the proper direction, whichever way the pinion K or operatingcrank may be turned.

hat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. One or more intermediate wheels employed to communicate motion from the measuring-bellows to the registering-wheels, and so connected to the latter that either a forward or backward motion of the intermediate wheel or wheels will communicate a forward motion to the registeringwhccls.

2. The arrangement and combination of the wheels F and G, when constructed and operating in conjunction with the wheels A, B, O, D, and E, substantially as and for the pnr poses set forth.

WM. MCDONALD.

Witnesses:

PHILIP TEMPLETON, JNo. TEMPLETON. 

